Tag Archives: cat

Ship Me to the Apple Barn Festival

Posted on October 18, 2009 | 1 Comment

Pick a word, any word. This plate was in the bathroom of Foursided. Bathroom reading for the ADD customer?

A walk in Winnemac Park with Justin. We took our fake dog for a walk and fit right in.

Fall was awesome this weekend. The only thing that could have made it better would have been an apple pie and a trip to a pumpkin farm/cider mill.

However, I ate too much brunch at M. Henry with Randy and Andrea yesterday to be interested in baking a pie like I had planned. And as far as the field trip to the pumpkin farm/cider mill goes, I am car-less.

It is one of the only times of the year that I loooonnnng for a vehicle. A GIRL NEEDS HER PUMPKINS. The farms in the burbs of Chicago are ridiculously extravagant; petting zoos and pig races, corn mazes and apple orchards, fresh cider and hot donuts. FRESH CIDER AND HOT DONUTS. Want! My friends from high school, Bill and Lindsay, were just engaged this weekend at one of these cider mills in a very cute way. See, cider=love.

You see, I have these childhood memories of the Apple Barn Festival in rural central Illinois (anyone ever heard of Danvers? no, no you haven’t), and I won’t be completely satisfied with the fall season until I can return to this magical place or a place like it. (Add Hayrides, caramel apples, and music to the mandatory list). My heart aches whenever a new Facebook album is posted featuring a pumpkin patch trip, or a goat eating a funnel cake.

And since everyone I know has been uploading adorable pictures of their babies in pumpkin patches, here is mine.

nom nom the pumpkin

Chinese lanterns now greet me at the door. Really really like.

Leaves creating shadow patterns on the wall.

Fall twinkle lights are up around the doorway to the dining room. I really love the extra glow. I need all the light I can get.

Not a real apple pie, but it smells that way.

Have you met Marjorie and Lloyd yet?

They are my only Halloween decorations.

Don’t be scared.

Marjorie is not as wretched as she looks. When I found her a few years ago at World Market, I just had to have her. While laughing maniacally, I stood in line with her under squeezed tightly under my arm. I tried to contain the snickering, but it was like I had the church giggles. They simply could not be supressed. The cashier expertly avoided eye contact with the crazy lady petting the ugly kitty, and soon I was the proud owner of a disgusting piece of styrofoam that was covered in something that can loosely be described as “fur.” A year later, little Lloyd was spotted and purchased to keep her company. Justin hated Marj at first, but has eventually come to accept her as an unavoidable presence that visits us during this time of year. She is the unwanted stepchild of our holiday decor.

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Posted in Daily Picture

Tagged apple barn festival, cat, chinese lanterns, cider mill, daily pictures, engagement, fall, fall candle, photography, pumpkin, pumpkin patch, twinkle lights, ugly halloween decorations

Purple Cauliflower and a Laundry Monster

Posted on October 5, 2009 | 3 Comments

Yes, that is an actual variety of purple cauliflower. I didn’t Photoshop it. If I had, there would be googly eyes on it.

So you may have noticed there is quite a bit of color going on here. The farmer’s market is in its last weeks before shutting down for the season. It is hard to be sad though when there is still so much going on at each stand. Honeycrisps, concord grapes, red peppers, squash, and pumpkins. It is like the Mardi Gra of vegetables. One last hurrah before a quiet season.

Porpus is a big fan of fall/winter. Hibernation is her specialty.

Not just a disturbing amount of laundry to fold. It is a cat cave as well. Look closely.

Now that you made it through the cat photos, you get a reward. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

Another great thing about the season change is that it brings fantastic crispy-snuggle-up-warm-and-cozy-sleeping weather. It is perfect for spooning–pets, loved ones, or pillows–although it kind of sucks to get out of bed on a chilly morning. And for some reason I am totally congested when I wake up. Gross. Hence the lemon, honey, cayenne and hot water drink. It does wonders. Trust me. Cleans you out and is kind of addicting. I make them every morning, and coffee is a dark and distant memory at this point.

Speaking of spooning, one of my recent daily happinesses doesn’t even involve me. A couple of my friends have recently found new companions to cozy up with. I am pleased as punch that they will be very warm this winter. Yay for them! They deserve the best. <3

p.s. For those of you who are upset about the masthead, it is coming.

p.p.s. Who are all you people? Are you lurking without commenting? I think you are. It’s alright. I do it too. But don’t be afraid to say hello sometime.

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Posted in Daily Picture

Tagged cat, cooler weather, Daily Picture, fall, farmer's market, gourds, honey lemon cayenne pepper drink, laundry, photography, purple cauliflower, squash, stuff on my cat

Effort

Posted on September 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

In an effort to cultivate a nighttime habit of regular postings, I would like to present a bit of lameness that took all the energy I could muster this evening:

That is supposed to be an animated gif. Not sure if that will post correctly. (click on it?) Apologies to anyone with epilepsy, allergies to fat felines, or the aversions to deliciously fluffy blankets.

The idea of curling up in that blanket when the weather gets crispy and leaves get crunchy makes me want to shut down the computer and bake a loaf of bread right now. The warm bread would then be eaten with a bowl of homemade chili and chased with a hot brandy cider. I kind of want a hay ride and pumpkin donut as well. That’s right, Fall is coming. It is second only to Spring in favorite-time-of-year-ratings. Winter and I are still not speaking because of last year’s treacheries, and Summer is a bit lazy and damp.

I am looking forward to that date with my fuzzy blanket. Porpus Boley will surely join me during Autumn cuddle fest 2009 without hesitation. Coziness is just around the corner. It’s about to be spooning weather.

Right now though, I am still trying to eat as many fresh things as possible, while things are still growing. This perfectly blue colander that was just given to me by my observant Mama makes washing the dirty fresh things way more fun than my boring old strainer did. Thanks, Mom.

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Posted in Daily Picture

Tagged animated gif, cat, colander, Daily Picture, fall, photography, porpus, tomatoes

Grown Up

Posted on August 6, 2009 | 3 Comments

I feel like such a big girl every time I replace something I bought at IKEA. A couple of years ago, nearly EVERYTHING I owned was purchased from the Swedish wonderland of affordable do-it-yourself home goods. Which is just fine and dandy for a few years, but then your furniture starts to explode or dissolve. They should put expiration dates on all the boxes (oh dear me the BOXES…) so that you know the approximate date of when you will have to completely refurnish your home, due to utter failure of the couch/rug/dresser you just bought.

Everything looks so nice at first. Your apt is stunning! It helps that you are totally high from getting SUCH A GOOD DEAL! Look at how many rooms you furnished! Say, you are smart and good looking. And you have excellent taste in pillow covers!

What is that cracking noise? Oh god…the dresser. It has literally exploded. Fantastic. Great.

Is that a tumble weed? What the hell is all this white fluffy crap? OH…the rug. Awesome. I love how it sheds worse than a cat and also seems to be a lint remover/dirt trap for the world. It used to be so pretty. So fluffy, so clean. What smells like wet cat?

So I am pleased to be cheating on IKEA with West Elm. I love them very much, although their shipping is usually pretty expensive and sometimes slow. But when my mom mentioned a free shipping event last weekend I jumped at the chance to get a decent living room rug. It is perfect! And the Dyson is not interested in ingesting it! Woot!

Yay rug! This is a bit blurry, but you get the idea. Note that the table is an IKEA purchase...and so is the lamp. I love them dearly and apologize if anything I have said here offended them.

Porp tested. Feline approved.

Does Porpus look skinnier to you?

P.S. I quit drinking caffiene last week. It was a rough couple of days, but I am so happy that I did. I can sleep through the night! No early morning wake-up-and-worry sessions. No mid-day crashes. And my skin is better. I am taking tea suggestions if you have any.

P.S. I quit drinking caffeine last week. It was a rough couple of days, but I am so happy that I did. I can sleep through the night! No early morning wake-up-and-worry sessions. No mid-day crashes. And my skin is better. I am now taking tea suggestions if you have any.

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Posted in Daily Picture, decorating, Uncategorized

Tagged cat, daily picure, decorating, furniture, ikea, living room, quitting caffeine, rug, tea, west elm

Heaven in a Crock Pot

Posted on August 4, 2009 | 6 Comments

Let’s talk about meat for a second.

I grew up on a mainly vegetarian house. My mom has been a vegetarian off and on for a good part of her life. My brother as well. I was a vegetarian myself for a couple years. This was all fine and good and fairly easy, even as a fifth grader. That is until the summer camp vegetarian options presented themselves to me. I almost starved on lunches and dinners of iceberg lettuce with ranch dressing, until chicken fingers came to my rescue. I didn’t want to pass out at the campfire during a rousing rendition of “Give me gas in my Ford, keep me truckin’ for the Lord…” The second verse of that song actually has the line “Give me cheese on my cheeto, God is neato, neato, NEATO.” I am not making this up. I miss camp.

Anyway, I would be perfectly happy to be a vegetarian again, but it would make meals extremely difficult to plan. Justin likes meat, and I really don’t feel like making us separate dishes every night.

Maybe it is the weather, but I have a very low meat tolerance lately. I can’t seem to eat more than a couple ounces of the stuff without being totally full or turned off by the meal. Sometimes the smell of it turns me off. I will often negotiate a trade with my sweet meat-eating husband, and will end up with a heaping double order of brussel sprouts. I feel like I am the winner in this trade; I’m as happy as the kid in the cafeteria that traded her carrots for a Snack Pack.

So if you have any vegetarian entree ideas, that would satisfy a meat loving man as well, send them my way. I need help.

This all being said, my friend Casey bought 4 lbs of pork butt for a roof deck party she hosted on Sunday. Then she called around to ask people if she could BORROW A CROCK POT…people thought she had been kidnapped and that “crock pot” was some sort of code meant to secretly indicate her distress. It wasn’t possible that she really wanted one. The thing is, she doesn’t really cook. So when she announced that she was not catering the BBQ, but making it from scratch, we were all dumbfounded. But also curious.

Even with her lack of cooking experience, and my meat issues, I have to say that she knocked this one out of the park. I think she said that she cooked the pork for 13 hours total. It was good. Add a pickle, it was amazing. Casey better be cooking from now on. She can’t use excuses anymore. Because we know the truth.

Bravo! I am not sure this can look pretty in a picture, but I assure you it was divine.

Oh no he didn't...

Neato, neato, neato.

Photo credit: Mr. Boley.

Oh, goodness. Punk Marie is really a sucker for the Sutter Home. She is clearly a classy lady.

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Posted in Daily Picture

Tagged bbq, cat, chicago skyline, cooking, Daily Picture, friend, photography, photos, pork, roof deck, summer camp, vegetarian

Schween Looks Like an Owl

Posted on July 15, 2009 | 6 Comments

Have I mentioned that the iPhone is amazing? Well it is.

Is there anything more irritating than a person who always talks about their iPhone? Not really. Oh, wait. There are cat people.

I have now become an iPhone loving cat person. What is happening to me? This is dreadful. Hey, where are you going? Don’t go!

…did I also mention that the iPhone has video capabilities? I am thrilled with this handy feature. Those who are less thrilled include my mom and brother who are receiving random cat videos throughout the week. These are not interesting or funny cat videos like the ones that have a million views on YouTube. They are pretty lame. See:

OMG…it’s sideways. I am so sorry. This is really bad.

Note: There is nothing in the room that would cause her to whip her head around like an owl. She is just nervous and skiddish by nature. But I love her anyway.

I apologize for this post in it’s entirity. Please come back tomorrow.

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Posted in cats, Daily Picture, Uncategorized

Tagged apologies, bad video, cat, daily video, iphone, lame

Family Time

Posted on May 27, 2009 | 1 Comment

The scene: Husband, wife and Porpus lounge on the couch together. Wife’s head is rested on husband’s shoulder. Porp is being cuddled.

Wife: “You’re my best friend.”

Husband: “Aww, you’re my best friend, too.”

Wife: “I was talking to Porpus.”

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged cat, Daily Double, love, marriage

Two Days To Go

Posted on May 13, 2009 | 2 Comments

Justin is taking finals for two more days and then we are going on a vacation.

I have mentioned this before, but this is the first time we will have gone on a trip alone in our 6 years together. No visiting family–although we love family (hi and hello, family). No visiting friends. Just a regular vacation. I hear this is a good thing. I get a burst of excitement every time I look at the place we are staying. Happy birthday to me!

Now we just need to get through the next two days. Luckily, I have been working on a new project at work with a team I don’t normally work with. So I am having fun and staying busy which always makes the time fly. I would take a picture of what I am doing as my DPH, but then I would have to kill you. So here are some of Porpus in a blanket cave and on the coffee table instead.

I had forgotten how delicious long-exposure with a side of flash is. I will be exploring this more...although it makes the subject of the photo appear drunk 99% of the time.

I had forgotten how delicious a long-exposure with a side of flash can be. I will be exploring this more...although it makes the subject of the photo appear drunk 99% of the time.

Here is a photoshop mash-up painting as well.

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Posted in Daily Picture

Tagged blacksmith inn, cat, Daily Picture, finals, flowers, justin, photography, porpus, vacation

Fresh Recreational Cat Drugs!

Posted on May 12, 2009 | Leave a comment

Tis the season for lilacs. Being from Michigan, I pronounce this "LIE-laaacks"

They smell amazing, and are completely unavoidable on my walk home. They are falling all over the fences. The only way to miss them is if you are blind and deaf, or wearing the hood of a winter coat.

This sidewalk chalk drawing is a couple doors down from us. I thought itwas a beautiful gradient. If they put a glow and a drop shadow on it, this little one has a future in promotional advertising design.

This sidewalk chalk drawing is a couple doors down from us. It's a beautiful gradient. If they put a glow and a drop shadow on it, this little one has a future in promotional advertising design.

There is also a new crop of catnip popping up along the commute. This stuff smells like a pungent mint plant in need of some deodorant. It is on the verge of being really nasty stuff. I plucked a single stalk for Porpus, since she enjoys the finer things in life. She went nuts over it and guarded it from Schween with a vengeance. Don’t feel too bad for Schween, she doesn’t appreciate the fresh catnip anyway, and just sniffs it without proper enjoyment.

This is not a great photo, but you can see silly Schween trying to creep in on Porp's prized nip. She obviously got a warning bite on her ear.

———————

Here is a little DNH to listen to: Bagel Brigade

I will try to find some more tonight.

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Posted in Daily Picture

Tagged cat, catnip, commute, Daily Picture, DNH, lilac, sidewalk chalk

Finals…again

Posted on May 4, 2009 | 1 Comment

“It’s just that I have been through finals four years in a row now…”

“Um, yeah I was there. I was the one taking them.”

Justin is in finals mode…again. And in the years before he had finals, I had finals. Basically, they are a twice-annual occurrence for as long as we have been together. It is a stressful time, more so for Justin than for me of course, but I can feel their weight at home.

This year, I have not been quite as supportive as I usually am for some reason. I still leave him alone to study and write, and protect his time from social obligations that would interfere with his work, but I am missing the mark somehow. Maybe they are so routine that I am feeling like they are no big deal. Not true. I have been whining for Justin to come out an play in the spring with me, but he is focused, and I shouldn’t mess with that. Only one week to go…then only one more year…

Sunday was beautiful, and we went to breakfast outside. It was fun, despite the expression here. You may feel the same way if you were working on something called Secured Transactions Blahschwenblats

Sunday was beautiful, and we went to breakfast outside for the first time this year. It was fun, despite the expression pictured here. You might feel the same way if you were working on something called Secured Transactions Blahwhatsit.

Just look at this. I am not even a pankcake person, but the Katie Cakes from Taste of Heaven do not disappoint. This isn't your average Bob Evan's stack.

Just look at this. I am not even a pancake person, but the Katie Cakes from Taste of Heaven do not disappoint. This isn't your average Bob Evan's stack.

The famouse Puppet Bike was out again. Here is a penguin and gator dancing with my dollar.

The famous Puppet Bike was out in Andersonville again. Here is a penguin and gator dancing with my dollar.

This neighborhood continues to impress me. They even planted my favorite colored hydrangeas along the sidewalks. I wanted these in my wedding bouquet but they weren't in season.

After breakfast, we had to drop off back at home to study, and I planned on going out again...but then napped on the porch with felines.

After breakfast, we had to drop off Justin back at home to study, and I planned on going out again...but then napped on the porch with felines.

Ahh, Winnemac Park. Please note the weeping willow. I hope to eat under that tree when finals are out. For now I was just creepy lady in the park taking pictures of other people's romantic afternoon. Not pictured here is my creepy photos of the kids on the jungle gym.

Ahh, Winnemac Park. Please note the weeping willow. I hope to eat under that tree when finals are all over with. For now, I am just the creepy lady in the park taking pictures of other people's romantic afternoons. Not pictured here are my ultra-creepy photos of the kids on the jungle gym.